Make way, make way… for this colorful modern Moana party! Every little girl is in love with the latest Disney Princess—scratch that, Daughter of the Chief!—and I couldn’t resist creating our own celebration based on the popular movie. From balloon waves to Pineapple Beach Balls this Polynesian ocean party is poppin’ with Moana birthday party ideas!

There’s something so magical and nostalgic about waiting until dark for the firework show to begin! Now that I’m a parent, sharing it with my children makes it all the more special. Although the baby may be a bit young to hang for the real fireworks, that doesn’t mean he has to miss out completely! Follow along for an inexpensive way to make sure baby gets in on the fun with our simple DIY Firework Balloon tutorial and deck out his ride for your local parade!

Balloon garlands are one party trend that don’t seem to be going away anytime soon. I’m loving their longevity because balloons are an inexpensive and fun way to make a big impact. When I was thinking of fun ideas for our Kid’s table for Easter, the similarity between the shape of Easter eggs and balloons gave me the idea of creating a fun oversized Easter Egg table runner. This Do-it-yourself requires only balloons, paint and tape, making it a super simple project.

I don’t know about you but I am a big sucker for a Chinese Chippendale pattern. So when my hubby and I started discussing pet gates, and realized all our past gates weren’t quite up to par, I started thinking of a stylish DIY. We needed something that wouldn’t be constantly falling down against our stair railing, and that is simple for my seven year old daughter to use. So I turned to my resource for everything DIY; Pinterest. I found several great Chippendale railing tutorials as well as DIY baby & pet gates. We combined what we learned to create our own DIY Chippendale Gate Tutorial.

Create your frame to be a 1/4″ smaller square than the opening/doorway. For example, our stairwell was 39″ wide, so we created our gate to be 38.75″ x 38.75″. Keeping the gate a square keeps measuring simple. Note that an average doorway is only around 30″ wide. (If your opening is on the skinnier side, you can always mount your gate slightly higher so it will be tall enough.)

Step 2: Build the frame

Cut the first two pieces of your 2″ thick wood to your opening/doorway width (1/4″ less than the measured opening/door).

Cut the next two more pieces to be 4″ shorter than your first two. Your taller pieces will be the top and bottom of frame and the shorter pieces will go between to create your square frame. Nail or screw them together.

Step 3: To begin the Chippendale pattern, place two boards diagonal from a top corner to the opposite bottom corners as shown to create an X. The simplest way to measure this board and all is to pre-cut your board a few inches longer than where the board is going to be used. Measure along one of the diagonal board and mark the points where they overlap. You will cut away one of the boards where it crosses the other board at the midpoint. Hold the boards in place and mark them to determine the angles and lengths. Cut and then install boards to create an X within your frame.

Step 4: Measure each half of the formed “X”. and divide to have even spacing between spindles. To make these spindles you pre-cut the boards, and hold in place to measure and mark as before. The length of each of these boards is correct when they are exactly parallel to the main “X” board as shown in the pictures and evenly spaced out. Attach with nails/screws where possible and a generous amout of wood glue where not. Continue until each section is complete.

I recommend looking at a photo of a chippendale railing while you work to get the pattern right. Our seemed to get a little off, but we were happy with it.

Step 5: Once your pattern is complete and everything is nailed/screwed or glued together you can lightly sand and they spray paint your gate.

Step 6: Once the paint is dry you are ready to install! Install your gate onto wall or doorframe with drill and screws using simple hinges on one side and a gate lock on the opposite side. Think about which way you want your gate to be swinging and have the hinges on that side.

We ended up choosing a different lock style than we initially picked out and so we added a small piece of wood to our gate to accommodate it.

All together we ended up spending less than $50 to build our gate. In all honesty, our gate didn’t turn out perfect. Some of our spacing got thrown off so it’s not all evenly spaced for that perfect chippendale pattern, but we’ve still gotten a ton of compliments on it. Most importantly it does it jobs and keeps the little ones from charging up the stairs, all while looking stylish!

It feels like only a few months ago that Charlie came home from the hospital, and here he is already one! He is by far our most mischievous child—sometimes even a little wild—so when his birthday was coming up, I couldn’t think of a more perfect theme than a “Wild One” first birthday party. The best part was that his nursery already had a lot of elements that would double as decor! With the theme in mind, I started to design a playful yet modern first birthday party.

I was beyond excited when Annabelle announced that she wanted a magical unicorn birthday party this year! I love combining super girly and classic elements with fun, modern twists. With Unicorns being so popular I knew this was my chance to go all out! Oh, and did I mention that we share a birthday? So in a way, I kinda feel like I got my own unicorn party!(more…)

Is it just me or are mini party supplies even cuter than regular party stuff?! When I saw these adorable mini honeycomb garlands at Target, I knew I had to buy them! After brainstorming on what I could so with them, it hit me that I could use them to create DIY Pop-Up Gender Reveal Card Free Printables! If you’re planning a Gender Reveal Party for friends and family, these cards are a fun way to announce if baby is a boy or girl!

If there are two things I can’t resist they’re a good pun, and a retro Volkswagen van! This year I combined the two to create these free ADORABLE (if I do say so myself) Printable Valentine’s Cards for my kiddos to hand out at school. AND I’m sharing the printable file with you! (You’re welcome). Because… I like the way you roll.

My kids love Halloween, but some of the scary decorations are just too much for them. So instead of a scary Halloween, I wanted to create a non-spooky party that all of the little guests could enjoy that included fun animals, balloons and sweets! A friendly little pumpkin circus seems to fit the bill perfectly!